The Hall Heads to Kerrville for The Big Texan, Monday

KERRVILLE, TEXAS - The Seton Hall men's golf team will return to action on Monday with the first two of three rounds of golf at The Big Texan at Riverhill Country Club, March 25-26.

Tournament Details:
THE BIG TEXAN
Host: University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley
Location: Kerrville, Texas
Course: Riverhill Country Club
Course Vitals: Par-72, 7,137 yards
Dates: March 25-26, 2024

THE COURSE
Riverhill's architect, Joe Finger, is a well-traveled Renaissance man who has dabbled in everything from corrugated plastics and dairy farming to college golf and course development. So it says something that he chose Riverhill Country Club as his home. Consistently rated as one of the top courses in all of Texas, Riverhill is a scenic layout with major elevation changes; undulating, elevated greens; lots of water and tough Hill Country brush that wreaks havoc on errant balls.

Leon Howard designed the course originally as a 9-hole layout back in 1952, but members eventually commissioned Byron Nelson and Ralph Plummer to improve the layout. Plummer became ill, opening the door for Finger's contributions. One of his most challenging holes is No. 11, a par 3 that sometimes plays around 200 yards from the tips. With the wind blowing and water on all along the right side, it's an intimidating tee shot when you're aiming at the tiny green.

Hole 4 is the most difficult rated hole, a 458-yard par 4. Another tough challenge is the long par 5 14th, which happens to be proceeded by another long par 5, creating a tough stretch of golf on the back side.

THE FIELD
In addition to Seton Hall and host Texas-Rio Grande Valley, the field features 13 other teams including: Abilene Christian, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Midland College, New Mexico JC, New Orleans, Ranger College, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, Texas A&M Commerce, Weber State and Western Illinois.

THE SETON HALL LINEUP

Wenliang Xie, Graduate student
George Fricker, Junior
Jack Bosworth, Sophomore
Isaiah Williams, Freshman
Eli Shah, Freshman

Individual: Patrick Kahanek, Junior

LAST TIME OUT
Graduate student Wenliang Xie (Zhaoqing, China) shot a 1-under-par, 71, to lift the Seton Hall men's golf team to a seventh-place finish at the Loyola Intercollegiate on February 27.

Xie had three birdies and 13 pars to fuel the top Seton Hall effort in round three. For the tournament, he tied for 42nd place with a 1-under-par, 74-70-71-215. It's his 10th career sub-par tournament, which ranks his second on Seton Hall's career list. His 38 sub-par rounds also rank second-most.

As a team, The Hall shot a 4-over-par, 292, in round three, which slipped them two spots to a seventh-place finish in the large field of 20 teams. For the tournament, the Pirates were 10 under-par with a 286-276-292-854. North Dakota State won the team title at 40-under-par.

Sophomore Jack Bosworth (Simsbury, Conn.) was the top Pirates performer for the three-day event. In round three, he shot a pedestrian 3-over-par, 75, but he finished the tournament with a career-best 3-under-par, 71-67-75-213. Bosworth tied for 26th place among 116 individual golfers. It's his second career sub-par tournament.

LAST TIME AT THE BIG TEXAN
Gregor Tait fired a 2-under-par, 70, in round three to lead the Seton Hall men's golf team to a come-from-behind team victory at The Big Texan during the spring of 2022.

The Pirates entered the final round tied with two other teams for third place, four strokes off the lead, but shot an 11-over-par, 299, in round three, by far the best round of the top-5. Seton Hall vaulted up the leaderboard to win the event by four strokes over second-place New Orleans. For the tournament, The Hall fired a 12-over-par, 290-287-299-876.

Tait used three birdies and 14 pars in round three to shave off seven strokes from his second-round score. He recorded a 2-under-par, 70, for The Hall's top round of the day.

FORMAT / TEE TIMES
The field will play two rounds on Monday and one round on Tuesday. Play will begin with tee times beginning at 7:45 a.m. CT on both days. Seton Hall will be paired with golfers from host UTRGV and Midland for the first round. The Pirates will tee off the hole No. 1.

RESULTS:
Live scoring will be available via Golfstat.com. Full day results will also be available at SHUPirates.com.